Less than a week into 2022, and it’s clear that some people have already broken their New Year resolution to be kinder. Exhibit A: the journalist who told a PR to “stop sending me stuff about f*cking Veganuary. F*cking idiots.” The PR posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter, redacting the journalist’s name and prompting a slew of comments, many citing similar examples of abrasive email exchanges. 

 

Rudeness is never acceptable at any time, but feels particularly jarring in January, the shiny first month of a shiny new year into which we’re all emerging, bruised and tender from the one before. Rudeness is also rarely forgotten. I can still recall the fashion PR who, in 1999, refused me entry to her client’s party by screaming at the top of her voice, in front of a throng of our peers, that I “hadn’t been f*cking invited”. For someone whose job was communication, hers was woefully off-message. Her client was a luxury brand. There’s nothing luxurious about the F-word. 

 

Journalists and PRs might bat for different teams, but our goal is the same: effective communication. Why nuke your relationship when you could nurture it? Sure, we don’t all have to love or even like each other, but we do owe each other the basic courtesy of being polite.